Van Jones
Showing 1–7 of 7 transcripts.
- Milken Institute40 min
New Pathways to Help Forgotten America | Finance Forum 2025
Rich Ditizio, Marla Blow, Van Jones
A panel at the Milken Institute, featuring Skoll Foundation's Marla Carter and Amazon Web Services' Dan Price, analyzes the structural retreat of the U.S. public sector and the subsequent necessity for private capital and technology to solve social challenges. The discussion details strategic pivots in philanthropy toward complex capital stacks, highlights specific tech interventions in criminal justice and infrastructure, and reframes diversity initiatives as economic imperatives rather than moral obligations. Looking forward, the speakers outline a new "Center for Advancing the American Dream" to document mentorship narratives while urging the integration of AI and community access to navigate a rapidly changing technological landscape.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Addressing Antisemitism and Religious Bias Based on Facts | Global Conference 2024
Richard Sandler, Van Jones, Daniel Lubetzky, Arielle Mokhtarzadeh, David Wolpe
Rabbi David Wolpe, Van Jones, Daniel Lesetsky, and Ariel Macarza Day convened to analyze the post-October 7 surge in antisemitism, framing it as an ideological war driven by foreign influence and Marxist binaries that threatens the historic Black-Jewish alliance. The panel detailed specific campus realities, including the physical barring of Jewish students and the strategic use of anonymity by masked protesters, while contrasting Jewish fears of genocide with Black anxieties about police brutality to explain the current fragmentation. To counter these threats, the experts proposed a strategic "Five H's" alliance between Black and Jewish communities, advocating for institutional partnerships between HBCUs and Hillels and a shift from defensive posturing to active legal enforcement against hate crimes.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
2024 US Election Insights | Global Conference 2024
Gerard Baker, Kellyanne Conway, Van Jones, Chris Liddell, Jim Messina, Paul Ryan
This 2024 election analysis highlights the historic contest between the first two former presidents in a century, examining how unique factors like Trump's criminal indictments and Biden's age concerns are reshaping voter behavior. Panelists identify economic security and border security as primary drivers for swing voters, while noting a fragile Obama-Biden coalition struggling to retain young Black and Latinx male voters against a Republican campaign that has fully embraced the MAGA movement. Predictions emphasize a highly competitive electoral map centered on three Midwestern states, with a likely outcome of divided government and significant risks from AI-driven disinformation during the transition period.
- Goldman Sachs32 min
Van Jones: A "First Step" in Criminal Justice Reform
Van Jones transformed his early disillusionment with media sensationalism into a decades-long crusade for criminal justice reform, leveraging grassroots activism in the Bay Area and high-level political alliances ranging from the Obama and Trump administrations to launch major policy victories like the First Step Act. Building on bipartisan support that secured overwhelming legislative passage and targeted the opioid crisis, he recently founded the Reform Alliance with $50 million in capital from co-founders Jay-Z, Meek Mill, and Robert Kraft to dismantle the probation and parole systems driving recidivism. His work continues to focus on removing employment barriers for formerly incarcerated individuals and expanding green job initiatives to reintegrate millions into the economy while reducing the racial disparities inherent in the current justice system.
- Milken Institute1h 15m
American Politics: The 114th Congress and 2016 Presidential Election
Skip Reimer, Mike Allen, Ed Gillespie, Jason Grumet, Frank Luntz, Van Jones
The 18th annual Milken Institute Global Conference convened over 3,500 attendees and 700 speakers to analyze the 2016 election landscape, economic stagnation affecting the working poor, and rare bipartisan consensus on criminal justice reform. Key figures including Frank Luntz, Van Jones, and Ed Gillespie identified Marco Rubio and Scott Walker as top Republican prospects while warning of an asset-based recovery that leaves the working class feeling hopeless. The dialogue further explored structural congressional dysfunction, the demographic "swarms" reshaping the Democratic coalition, and the critical electoral stakes for swing states like Virginia, Florida, and Ohio.
- Milken Institute53 min
Social Justice, Incarceration and Reentry: New Directions for a Better Way
Mike Romano, Scott Budnick, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jackie Lacey, Van Jones, Prophet Walker
Facing a U.S. incarceration rate that quadruples the global average, California leaders and bipartisan coalitions are implementing structural reforms such as the 2012 three-strikes ballot measure and ARC's educational pathways to address severe overcrowding and 74% juvenile recidivism. By shifting focus from punitive confinement to community-based treatment, vocational training, and "Pay for Success" social impact bonds, the state aims to reduce costs that consume ten percent of the budget while simultaneously lowering violent crime rates and fostering economic opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals. These initiatives, supported by figures ranging from Newt Gingrich to Reverend Jesse Jackson, seek to replace outdated mandatory minimums with targeted interventions that address the root causes of poverty and systemic racial disparities within the justice system.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
YesWeCode: Training NextGen Technologists
Van Jones, Laura Weidman Powers, Trabian Shorters, Mitch Kapoor, Joey Ito, Chris Tucker, Prince, Amy Henderson, David Robertson, Pamela Hodges, Jamie
A skills mismatch has created a paradox where the tech sector faces a shortage of qualified workers while low-opportunity communities remain excluded despite possessing significant untapped talent. To address this, the "Yes We Code" initiative is aggregating existing community programs to unify training pipelines and connect diverse candidates with major tech employers, a strategy endorsed by figures like Van Jones and Prince. The program aims to launch a coordinated campaign on July 4th to bridge the gap between competency-based education and hiring practices, leveraging support from organizations like Ford Foundation and Facebook to diversify the workforce and alleviate poverty.